Figure 1. The COAWST Modeling System that joins an Ocean model, an Atmosphere model, a Waves model, and a Sediment Transport Model for studies of coastal change.

To better identify the significant processes affecting our coastlines and how those processes create coastal change we have developed a Coupled Ocean – Atmosphere – Wave – Sediment Transport (COAWST) Modeling System, which is integrated by the Model Coupling Toolkit to exchange data fields between the ocean model ROMS, the atmosphere model WRF, the wave model SWAN, and the sediment capabilities developed as part of the Community Sediment Transport Modeling Project.

Figure 2. Data fields exchanged between each model.

We began with a coupled modeling system as described in Warner et al (2008) and have enhanced that system to include concurrent one-way grid refinement in the ocean model, concurrent one-way grid refinement in the wave model, coupling an atmospheric model to include effects of sea surface temperature and waves, exchange of fields on refined grid levels, and interpolation mechanisms to allow the different models to compute on different grids. Full description provided in Warner et al (2010).